The Bureau and the Witch
"The Bureau and the Witch" is the 51st episode of Once Upon a Virus. Summary Matthew grows discontent with his life under Jdg's thumb, and so approaches our heroes with a plan to stop him, which involves the kidnapping of Justine. Meanwhile, Joanna finds herself descending into madness as she becomes haunted by a vision of Emma. And in the Other Wiki, UFO and Mary orchestrate the hosting of a masked ball, hoping that it will allow Rena and Lady to fall in love all over again. Plot Jdg looks at the dead body on the floor; well, not quite dead, for his magic has managed to make the corpse start drooling a little, the person's eyes unfocused. "Hmm… life…" he utters. "Life?" Matthew questions, disgusted by this, "How is that… life?" "Well he's alive isn't he? He's exhibiting signs of life," Jdg points out. "But he's not a''live," Matthew makes clear, "He looks like a vegetable. No memories or personality… just a shell." "Do you know the complexities involved in switching the brain back on?" Jdg wonders, "The point is, he's alive, and that's progress." "But he might as well not be, is why I'm saying," Matthew continues, and his boss tells him, "Fine. Have it your way." He proceeds to use his magic to make the body violently explode, spreading blood all around the living room of Josh's mansion, and Matthew himself. "WHAT THE—" "Do us a favor and clean that up while we're gone," Jdg orders him. "What do you mean? Where are you going?" Matthew wonders. "Me and my Messiah are going searching for Hero fan," Liz reveals as she steps into the room, "I figured he was in the same space as the Modem when the Virus hit, and I – or rather, Dear Old Lizzie Original Spice – found ''that at the beach caves; I figured that rusting suit of armor oughtta be there too." "Right… but why do you want it?" Matthew wonders further. "Because our opposition possesses the Staff of Peace," Jdg makes clear, "And Hero fan spent more time around it than anyone. If anything holds the secret to neutralizing it, maybe even destroying it, it'll be him." "Okay… just one more question before you go." Jdg looks annoyed at this, and Matthew proceeds to ask, "When do I get Liz's bot? She told me when I signed up to her group that you'd be able to transfer it." "Did she now?" Jdg asks, turning to Liz, who giggles, "Well, we'll just have to see now won't we." Liz bursts out laughing now, and Matthew comes to the realization that she never had any intention of allowing her bot to be passed over; he appears hurt, while Jdg reminds him to make himself useful and run a mop through this place, "Maybe take a shower too," before proceeding to leave with Liz. Matthew stands there, wiping the blood off his face, and watches as his girlfriend goes with her Messiah, seeming more than a little jealous. Rena and Lady are in the bar, going through some old dusty spell books in an attempt to revise their magical skills. "Be the phoenix," Rena is chanting to himself, over and over, "Be the phoenix," before summoning a fireball into his hand. It's not very powerful, and doesn't stay lit for very long, and he shouts, "Dammit!" as he drops the book to the floor. Justine picks it up, warning her husband to be careful because these books are very old, while Tiago asks Joe to come upstairs to the apartment with him to go bring some more down. Joe agrees to do so, leaving the room with his grandfather, and Justine places the book onto the bar so that she can approach the nearby play mat and pick up her daughter, cuddling her. "Be the phoenix," Rena has gone back to chanting, creating another fireball which lasts longer, but still goes out. "I so had this a while back…" "Can you please not make open flames indoors?" Justine requests, "Especially with the baby present." "But if I don't practise then I won't improve, and then we'll never stand a chance against Jdg," Rena bemoans, seeming scared, "What if he comes back for Julietfan?" "Don't worry," Lady says soothingly, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder which he holds and kisses, "There's always the chance that Joe succeeded in killing him and he won't even be coming back." "In which case we still have Liz to deal with, and she knows our secret. I mean, if anyone were to find out, we'd never be able to command respect in this town again." "I know, I know," Justine nods, trying not to think about it, "But like I said, Jdg might not be coming back and that's what's important." "Oh, he's back alright," says Matthew van Persie as he enters the bar, "And badder than ever. So what do you say we go stop him?" Before the two Admins can react, Joe is heard yelling "What the hell are you doing here?!" before dropping the books he brought from upstairs and charging at Matthew, pinning him up against the wall. "Calm down," Matthew tries. "Calm down? Calm down?! You put your hands on Emma's body, you son of a bitch!" "Yeah, because you told me to…" Matthew points out. Joe looks double angry now, making clear that that wasn't him, but Jdg98, to which Matthew says, "And I have a plan to defeat him, if you guys will help me?" Joe considers the punk, finally backing off, and Matthew brushes himself off before saying, "It's a bit of a risky plan, but…" he removes a bag from his back and takes out duct tape and some rope, "Lady Junky, could I please take you hostage?" The beautiful blonde is less than impressed. Lady Junky is in the Other Wiki, flirting with the warlock Villain fan. "This sounds cliché," she acknowledges, "But… do we know each other?" "I believe so," Villain fan admits, "I posed as the bishop at your wedding. I was trying to get close enough to kill the Evil Bureaucrat." "No way, me too!" Lady exclaims, laughing, and he points out that the two of them would certainly make a dynamic and destructive duo, to which she comments that she likes the sound of that. UFO Editor is watching this from the window with a sad expression, saying, "I've failed in my mission." "Oh, calm down," MaryPierceLopez tells him, appearing in the window also, "You haven't failed; this is just a minor setback." "She's falling for the wrong man," UFO points out, "How am I supposed to get things back on track now?" "Maybe we pushed them into the deep end with the whole wedding thing," Mary suggests, "Maybe we just have to start small. Rena and Lady met and fell in love at a masked ball so… hmm…" "What? What're you thinking?" UFO wonders. "Come with me," she says, "I have a plan. And it may involve me cranking out the old maid uniform." Said maid uniform is discovered by Rachel in a box of Natalia's old things as she starts cleaning out her apartment. She smiles upon seeing it… but then begins to tear up. "Oh, Mary," she utters, "If only I had the chance to say goodbye to you properly. I mean, I guess that must be what Joanna's feeling right now about Emma… Perhaps… I should go and see her. See how she's doing?" The former genie sighs, folding the uniform and placing it back in the box before heading to the apartment door. Before she answers it, however, she looks up to her friend Mary in heaven and says, "Oh, and I'm still waiting on answers to that prayer. You know, whenever you're ready." She leaves the apartment, and the shot returns to the box with the uniform. We next see Mary, having donned the uniform, sneaking into Rena Charming's dark palace in the Other Wiki via a first floor window, saying to herself as she comes tumbling into a store cupboard that the layout of this place is slightly different than when she used to clean it. She quickly grabs a mop and begins making her way covertly through the halls, finally finding the throne room where the Evil Bureaucrat is laughing at his sysop jester, RenaBOT, as Mary begins to mop the floor to no one's notice. Someone in the room though isn't laughing – Rena's father, TV Aficionado, who is sitting inside what looks like a giant birdcage next to the throne. "Why aren't you laughing, father?" Rena asks mockingly, "Is something not funny?" "The only funny thing here is you thinking that you're a real Bureaucrat. When you usurped the throne from me, you robbed this Wiki of a real ruler!" Rena looks annoyed at this and so orders Rockaboss to go sit near TV's cage, where the wolf growls and snarls a lot. TV looks at the bars of his cage and says to himself, "If only I knew the first thing about how to meld metal," as the jester continues and Mary moves closer to the throne. "You don't afford this kind of entertainment by being 'good'. I suppose the 'good' thing to do would be to share it with everyone." "Maybe you can," Mary says suddenly, and all three men in the room turn to her in shock as she dares to address the Bureaucrat so bluntly. "You could always try throwing a masked ball, make yourself more approachable to the people of the Wiki," she suggests. "Why would I want to be more approachable? If the people do not fear me, then I will no longer have control over them," Rena points out. "Even better," Mary continues, "You can be your regal best, inspire fright in all their hearts." Rena considers this deeply, finally telling the maid, who he assumes that he himself hired, that she might be onto something. She smiles. Meanwhile, UFO has approached Lady Junky at her church, saying, "I hear Rena Charming is throwing a masked ball tonight… you should go." "And why would I do that? Heck, why do I even still let you in here? Unless you're selling me something or about to do something funny like turn into a toad, I'd leave if I were you; my fight with that damn Bureaucrat has left me with quite a few unresolved murderous impulses and you don't wanna be around when I decide to act on them." "Surely that's a reason to go," UFO points out, "He'll be without his Black Mods; exposed. You'll be able to find the Evil Bureaucrat… and kill him, for good." Lady looks intrigued by what this supposed savior is saying, and comments as she looks at her Blood Wiccan uniform in the mirror that she's going to need something new to wear. Joanna is wearing her own Blood Wiccan uniform in the present, sitting sadly on her bed and looking over to Emma's bow and arrows which Joe dropped off. She starts to cry, burying her face in her hands, when a familiar voice asks her, "Why so sad?" She looks up in shock, seeing that Emma herself is now sitting next to her mother on her bed, smiling. "Emma… sweetheart, is… is it really you?" "No," Emma says bluntly, "I mean, if you're asking if I'm really here, I'm not. To be honest mom, I think you're going a little crazy. But I can help with that." "How?" Peep wonders. "By reminding you of who you really are. You're a bloodthirsty witch, the most ruthless leader your coven ever head… and you're sitting here moping like some teenage girl? No… you shouldn't feeling sad, mother… nor angry, or upset, because that doesn't help things at all. What you should be feeling is vengeful. Don't get mad, get even." This stirs up something dangerous deep inside Joanna. Liz is seen making her way through the town caves along with Jdg, who has summoned a ball of fire into his scythe-free hand in order to light their path in the search for Hero fan, using a map as a guide. "There should be a cavern just up ahead; I think he could be in there," Liz is saying, when suddenly— "Not so fast!" orders Joe, appearing from behind along with Lady and Rena. "You two aren't retrieving anything!" the latter exclaims. "Is that so?" Jdg asks, his ball of fire growing more violent; Rena appears a tad envious of it, but it soon dampens when Matthew appears out of a cloud of green smoke thanks to Divina's powder, yelling, "Stop!" "Matthew?" Liz questions, wanting to know what in the Tumblr is going on, and he explains, "I saw these three heading to the caves. I thought I'd stop them, for you, sire." Jdg raises an eyebrow while Matthew grabs Lady, "accidentally" allowing for the vial of green powder to drop from his pocket. Rena picks it up, and Justine screams, without much enthusiasm, "Go. Go on without me." Rena nods robotically before throwing the powder down onto the ground and allowing himself and his son to disappear. Matthew stage-whacks Lady across the head and she pretends to fall unconscious because of it, allowing him to carry her in a fireman's carry. "We have a hostage," Matthew happily points out to Jdg98 and Liz, "We can use her as leverage later. Want me to tie her up?" "No need," Jdg says, "We're almost there. Follow us." Meanwhile, a little way down the cave tunnels, Rena and Joe have disappeared, and the former retrieves a small device from his pocket. There is a screen which features a small blip, and Joe says, "That's mom. Come on, let's go." "Say what you want about Matthew," Rena adds, "But putting that tracker on your mother was a great idea. Now we can follow Jdg wherever he goes, and she'll be right there to help us ambush him when we catch up." "And then," Joe says as they begin making their way through the tunnel, following the blip on the screen, "We'll be able to defeat Jdg once and for all, and then we can bury Josh all over again, scythe and all." Reginafan2626's scythe can be seen resting up against the wall of Lady Junky's church in the Other Wiki as she is once again seen looking at herself in the mirror, having acquired a beautiful yet revealing blood-red ball gown, and a matching feather-and-jewel-adorned mask. A true and deadly beauty if ever there were one. She blows herself a kiss in the mirror before enchanting her dress so that she can make a proper entrance, proceeding to melt into a puddle of blood before leaving. This then allows her father Reginafan to sneak into her church and steal his scythe back… Meanwhile, at the ball, Mary watches from the corner, a serving girl at the buffet, as Rena Charming stands there in full Evil Bureaucrat attire, complete with a mask and large, deadly-looking crown. Wisps of silver decorate his usual blackness, for this is a special occasion, but overall he is fear-inspiring, which is exactly what he was going for. He smiles as his guests look almost afraid to dance, loving the fact that they're afraid of him, but he looks confused as they all suddenly begin to move off of the dance floor. Mary is the one smiling now though, for she sees the reason why: blood is dripping down from the ceiling, onto the floor. People gasp as a puddle is formed, and then a figure starts to rise from the thick red liquid. It isn't long before Lady Junky stands there in her full and fabulous ballroom attire. She blows Rena Charming a kiss, much like she did herself in the mirror earlier, before winking faux-seductively, making him appear very, very angry. Justine begins to "wake up" in the present after Matthew has put her down, with the two of them along with Jdg98 and Liz having entered a large cavern in the cave. Annoyed with having to carry a fireball, Jdg simply launches it up in the air where it hovers, acting like a light bulb and illuminating the entirety of the cavern. This allows Liz to see that Justine has come to while Jdg is simply marvelled by the sight of Hero fan: the suit of armor forged many years ago to guard the Staff of Peace. "How extraordinary," Jdg says as he stares at the dead shell of armor. "Indeed," Liz says as she approaches Lady and Matthew, "Should I interrogate our little guest?" "If you like," Jdg says, continuing to inspect his new weapon. "How did you know where we'd be heading?" Liz asks upon approaching, and Justine sits there on the cold cave floor, looking up at her old Chat Mod and saying, "Well… I not did want… no any trouble…" "What?" Liz asks, confused, and Lady Junky adds, "I did not… do it… just like… that…" "Okay I have literally no idea what you're tryna say," Liz gives up, and Justine makes an odd blinking face with the bitchiest of intonations. "Clearly I hit her too hard," Matthew covers, but Jdg comes over and says, "No… she's playing dumb." "Que-que? Dumb playing… I am any… the fact that you say… that… is like… why you such a jerk always… with me?" "Yeah, no one in the history of this world or the others talks that retardedly. I just don't buy it," Jdg declares ("Chienne…" Lady mutters), and so Liz picks her up by the hair, asking her Messiah if she should torture her a little to make her spill the beans. Justine avoids looking scared, while Jdg tells his lackey, "Nah. We can wait until I activate Hero fan, and then he can kill her as all her family watches… and then kill the family too." Liz drops Lady at this, uttering, "What?" Jdg raises an eyebrow, and she says, "Oh… I just didn't know we'd be wanting to kill them all." "But of course," Jdg says, returning to the suit of armor, "What else would we do with them?" Liz looks strangely saddened by the prospect. Out in the cave tunnels, Rena and Joe, with their respective weapons in tow, notice on the tracker screen that Justine has stopped, meaning that they have to speed up if they're going to arrive in time for a decent ambush to take place… and before any harm befalls Lady. "Are you alright?" Joe asks his dad as they proceed with speed. "I guess…" Rena replies. "I don't know you just seem antsy lately." "What? Like I'm keeping a secret?" "What?" "Is that what you're saying? That me and your mother are keeping some dark and terrible secret? 'Cause we're not. Okay? Alright. Now let's go find her." "O… kay," Joe replies, continuing to follow Rena through the tunnels to Justine. Joanna is still talking to Emma over at her apartment, asking the vision of her daughter what exactly it is she's telling her to do. "I'm just saying that you have yet to exact your r—" before Emma can finish, she is cut off by a knock at the door, and Joanna, not wanting to abandon this opportunity to converse with her child – even if she knows it isn't real – merely exclaims, "Who is it?" "It's me, um, Rachel," the former genie says through the door, the only person who could make Joanna get up right now and answer it, which is exactly what she does. She smiles upon seeing her ex-girlfriend, but looks back to the bed to see that the vision of Emma has now disappeared, to her disappointment. "Why are you here?" Joanna asks delicately, and Rachel tells her, "I realized that I never properly offered my condolences for what happened, and I wanted to say that, if you need a shoulder to cry on… I guess I'm here for you." "Thank you," Joanna says, smiling, and Rachel opens her arms for a hug. However, Joanna leans in for a kiss instead, causing Rachel to back away. "But you said—" "That I'd be there for you, not that we'd be getting back together…" Rachel points out, "After seeing what you did, I can't—" "Fine, forget it," Joanna states bluntly, slamming the door in Rachel's face. She returns to her bed in a huff, crying. "Now," Emma says, having returned, "Back to what I'' was saying…" Joanna appears more eager now to listen. Jdg continues to inspect Hero fan when Rena and Joe come bursting into the cavern, the latter exclaiming, "Stop," as he fires an arrow at his grandfather's body's back. It pierces through, but Jdg simply turns around, reaches behind himself, and plucks the arrows back. No harm done – to him or his clothes – and Rena, Justine and Joe all appear fearful as they come to the realization that he must be at full power. "Alright," Jdg says, stepping forward as Liz and Matthew find themselves standing back. Rena and Joe try to move but find themselves glued to the floor, forced to drop their weapons. "This was clearly some kind of ruse," Jdg has approached Justine, who remains on the floor, and then lifts her up with one hand by the throat, beginning to choke her. "Lady!" "Mom!" Rena and Joe exclaim at the same time, although Joe's reaction appears to have a much more profound effect on him. He tries leaning down to get Rena's sword from the floor but Jdg just roles his eyes and waves his scythe-baring hand, causing Joe's face to smack the floor and for him to go unconscious. Justine tries calling out for her son but can't quite form words with Jdg's hand clasped around her throat. Jdg then brushes the scythe past Lady's cheek, asking himself what he should do with his "dear old mother… or, daughter?" while Rena watches, fearful. At the masked ball, Lady Junky approaches Rena, removing her mask and throwing it to one side, as she comments that she'll finally be able to rip out that unremarkable heart of his, "Just like I should've done when I said, 'I do'." However, before she gets the chance to, Reginafan2626 appears from behind in a mask of his own, wielding his scythe. "You…" Lady says, turning to him, while Rena comments, "I thought Rockaboss had torn you limb from limb." "And I thought I had taken that scythe from you… did you ''steal it from my church?!" Lady seethes, and Reginafan just stares at the two villains, eager to fight the Evil Bureaucrat. "Out of the way, Lady Junky, I'm here for him," Reginafan makes clear, but she doesn't budge. Instead, what happens next is Rena Charming's sysop jester arriving on the scene. "Don't worry, sire, I'll protect you!" RenaBOT yells as she runs at the rebel; however, he just ends up being run through with the scythe, and his dead body is quickly dispatched. Rena tears the mask from his face now also, stepping in front of Lady and exclaiming, "That was my favorite servant!" "Well having servants fight your battles for you isn't really becoming of a ruler, now, is it? Come fight me yourself." "Father, you should go," Lady orders, "Before I do something I regret." "Oh, don't leave," Rena assures, "I haven't had the chance to torture you yet. Perhaps I should skin you alive as your daughter watches." Lady stirs at this – but not uncomfortably – before jumping in with, "No… you should stretch him out first, rip his limbs off like cheap playthings." "Lady…" Reginafan utters, but Rena orders him to shut up, using his magic to force the rebel to his knees. "Or," the Evil Bureau continues, "I could take out one of his eyes with a buffet fork and turn it around without severing the optical nerve so that he can watch himself writhe around in pain." "Would you strip and whip him first? I mean, it's such a classic…" Lady wonders. "Obviously. Nothing beats a bit of public humiliation." The guests at the ball look almost as scared as Reginafan is right now. "Are you just gonna talk about torturing him… or are you gonna do it?" Lady asks, clearly turned on by all this violent talk, and Rena smiles as he approaches his soon-to-be victim. However, before he can do anything, MaryPierceLopez is seen discreetly taking a knife from the buffet and slashing into a rope on the wall, causing the chandelier to fall from the ceiling; Rena and Lady are on one side, and Reginafan is on the other. In all the confusion, Rena's magic wears off and Reginafan is able to get up and run away, scythe in tow. "Dammit!" Rena Charming yells as he gets away, but Lady assures him that it's okay, "He'll be found… and then we can both skin him alive. Maybe snap all his bones one by one first and force him to choke on a few." Rena looks to the Blood Wiccan, inspired by her bloodlust, and finds himself asking, "Would you… like to dance?" Lady smiles, picking her and Rena's masks up off the floor so that they can each reapply them. "I'd love to," she tells him, and the ballroom music starts playing again as the two of them begin dancing their way around the smashed chandelier and through the center of the guests, who still appear deeply afraid. Mary is the only one smiling as the Bureau and the witch grow more intimate. Rena watches his wife get choked in the present, and whispers to himself, "Be the phoenix… unleash the phoenix." "What are you saying?" Jdg asks before he's hit by a gigantic fireball emanating from Rena's palm. Liz quickly grabs Justine before she hits the floor and moves her out of harm's way out of instinct. Justine, shocked, gasps for air before rushing to her son's aid. She watches as her husband fills the space in front of him with fire as Jdg struggles to keep up and continue healing himself. Liz tries hiding at the edge of the cavern, while Matthew simply sneaks out during all the confusion. When the flames dampen, Rena waves his hands and he, his wife and his son all vanish in a flurry of red smoke, appearing back at The Sword and Hammer. "What… happened?" Joe asks as he starts to come to, and Justine is relieved that he's alright. "Our ambush failed," she admits, "But your father… he saved us." "I'd never done anything like that before," Rena admits, "The fire or the teleporting, it was… pretty damn cool, huh?" "Yes," Justine smiles, helping Joe to his feet, "Yes it was." She gives her husband a quick kiss before taking Julietfan2626 from Tiago, who's sitting at the bar. She cuddles her daughter while Rachel emerges from the backroom. "Oh, you guys are back," she says, "I was wondering where everyone was." "Rachel," says Joe, "Um, could I talk to you for a minute?" "Sure," she says, heading back into the backroom as Joe follows. "So we just fought Jdg," Joe reveals. "What?" she exclaims, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" "I'll be fine," he assures, "But he threatened my mom, and as he did, I had this realization…" "What do you mean?" she wonders. "That vision you showed me… of Josh killing my parents. I thought I was in the clear now that he was dead but… it's not Josh. It was never Josh. The vision was of Jdg98. He's gonna kill my mom and dad." Rachel gasps, coming to this realization as well, just as Joe's parents call him back into the bar, apparently needing to speak with him about something. "What is it?" Joe asks as he returns to the main room, and Rena says, "Me and your mother have something we need to tell you." Joe appears concerned, and Justine adds, "It's a secret that we've been keeping for a long time. And after what happened today, we realized… we don't want there to be any secrets between us. So here goes…" "Oh, God, what is it?" Joe asks, entirely apprehensive, and Rena admits, "Me and Lady, we… we…" "You what?" Joe continues to press. "We…" Rena says again, and finally Lady can't take it anymore and just yells, "Parking tickets!" "Come again now?" her son questions, and, breathing heavily, she tells him, "Me and your father have a lot of parking tickets. Like, sooooo many. We would always drive our carriage up to the YouTube stage shows and we just never paid for parking, alright?" "We've always felt so bad about it," Rena carries on, "We always preached honesty and humbleness to the people, but… we couldn't even be bothered to park legally, or pay for it when we didn't. Our people would find us so pompous if they knew…" "I hope you don't think any less of us," Lady finishes, and Joe just laughs, "I can honestly say that I do not." His parents take a sigh of relief, and he adds, "Really, I thought it was gonna be something super bad and ridiculous, like that you'd kidnapped a baby and shoved it down a portal to hell or something." "What? You think we'd be able to live with ourselves and walk around normally like nothing ever happened after something like that?" Rena asks. "Jeez, Joe, we're not monsters," Justine adds. "Sorry, my mind went into overdrive," Joe admits, "My other theory was that I had an evil twin." "Well I can tell you quite assuredly that you don't," Lady says. "Good," Joe replies, "Although I guess we could always use another savior around here…" UFO Editor watches through the palace window of the Other Wiki as Rena Charming and Lady Junky continue to bond, thanks to his and Mary's tampering. When he turns around, however, a sword is suddenly aimed at his throat. "Don't. Move," the Dark Mod ImmaGleek orders. UFO gulps as Imma stares him down. Liz, in the present, steps out of hiding after Jdg has put out all the flames and healed any injuries inflicted against him, although his outfit looks a tad singed and the cavern is still half-filled with faint traces of smoke. He is once again inspecting the frozen suit of armor that is Hero fan when he hears Liz's footsteps, and he doesn't even turn around when he addresses her, asking, "Why did you help Lady Junky?" "What?" Liz asks in return, and Jdg tells her, "Don't play games with me. I saw you helping her back there. You moved her out of the way of the fire; stopped her from hitting her head on the rocks. Why?" "Oh…" Liz utters, "I don't know. It just… I guess it was a reflex, left over from the proper Liz." "And earlier you had reservations about the idea of killing your old friends," Jdg recalls, "I do hope your loyalty for me isn't slipping." "No," Liz assures, "Never." She walks up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs her off, finally turning to face her. "But you see… I can't take that chance. If the true ImmaGleek is resurfacing then I'm going to have to snuff her out. Luckily, I was planning on doing so anyway." "Wh-what?" Liz says, finding herself unable to take a step back, and Jdg explains, "Hero fan is a dead shell, much like that gentleman I resurrected earlier today, but you've activated him before. Or rather, your bot has. I need him out and about, and if a bot is the only way to have that happen, then I'm going to have to use the only one at my disposal." Before Liz can react, Jdg shoves his entire fist down her throat. Her jaw breaks as he does, and her neck expands as he reaches down into it, searching for her soul. He arms become dislocated and her ribs start to shatter and she wishes to scream in pain but she just can't. Finally, Jdg latches onto something, and when he retracts his arm, breaking Liz even more severely than he already has, he is holding her bot. The little sliver of shadow mixed with lightning. He proceeds to shove it into Hero fan and the old suit of armor becomes activated. "Come with me," Jdg orders as he swiftly exits the cavern, but Hero doesn't obey right away. Instead, it looks down at the broken body of Liz at its feet, seeing that she only has seconds of life left in her. Feeling sorry for its longest-serving host, the bot wills its way out of Hero fan and goes back into Liz, allowing her bones to be knitted back together as her other various injuries heal as well. Eventually she's just unconscious, and then the bot leaves her again, taking up permanent residence within Hero fan. Jdg pokes his head back into the cavern. "Oh, that's right," he recalls, not paying any attention to the repaired Liz, "You're 'slow'." He waves his hand and works his magic over the ancient warrior, saying that that oughtta speed him up. Hero fan takes one last fleeting look at Liz before exiting the cavern with his Messiah. When they're both gone, Liz is seen taking a deep breath, and then the real ImmaGleek's eyes spring open for the first time in a long time. Category:Season 5 Category:Episodes Category:Lady Junky-Centric Category:Rena Charming-Centric